Hennessey Venom F5 Aims to Be the Fastest Car in the World

Texan tuning company Hennessey Performance Engineering has announced its new Venom F5 hypercar will debut at the 2017 SEMA Show in Las Vegas on November 1st.

The company teased the Venom F5 yesterday with a cryptic teaser showing the car parked on an empty road next to a sign that read “Speed Limit: 300.” It released more info on the hypercar today, along with a teaser video, and we can confidently say the Venom F5 will be decidedly more impressive than the Venom GT that preceded it. Whereas the Venom GT was based on the Lotus Exige platform, the F5 will be built around its own carbon fiber monocoque chassis.

Details on the engine are scarce, but according to Top Gear, it will be a big ol’ American V8 with two turbochargers bolted on. If we had to guess, we’d say it’s a revised version of the General Motors LS-based twin-turbo 7.0-liter engine that powered the Venom, which made a stout 1,451 horsepower. The transmission will be a single-clutch automatic (a dual clutch unit would have been too heavy and too fragile), but a six-speed manual will also be offered.

SEE ALSO: Hennessey Venom F5 Aiming for 290 MPH Top Speed

The Venom GT is unofficially the fastest car in the world, having reached a top speed of 270 mph at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida back in 2014. The 267 mph Bugatti Veyron SS retained the official Guiness record, however, as a top speed record must be set in two directions, with the recorded top speed being the average speed between the two runs. The Venom GT is also registered as a Lotus Exige and is not a true production car, which would have rendered ineligible for the record, anyway.

Will the Venom F5 dethrone Bugatti as the world’s fastest production car? This record-breaking speed saga will start when it makes its official debut at SEMA next month.